All That I'm Living For
by darkmoonvampire
Summary: Set straight after Betty Suarez Land. Betty's comatose after saving Antonella's life and Gio struggles to hope that she will survive. Getty
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Apology:

"_I lose myself in anguish for tonight. Help me get over you." - Apology by Alesana_

Gio hadn't slept that well the night before and was feeling very groggy and out of sorts. His day with Betty had turned out unexpectedly, when he returned from Rome only a few days ago, he had not anticipated that she would be so naïve that they could be friends and act like nothing happened.

Indeed he had been furious with her and hadn't lied when he said that he hated her, because in that moment he truly did. But as the day went by, he slowly begun to understand the decision she made and was happy that she hadn't picked Henry.

However, he felt like a complete idiot.

For he had hoped that maybe, just maybe, she would cry when she saw him and say how sorry she was and that she felt like she had made the worst decision in her life and declare her undying love for him.

_Honestly what the hell had I been thinking? _

He sighed as he finished another customers order and handed them their correct change and wished them a good day. _I've haven't been acting myself recently. I need to just move on and find myself a better woman. _He mentally slapped himself for that. _What am I saying? There isn't a woman better than Betty! Damn her and her perfection in driving me insane!_

He snapped himself out of his thoughts and moved around the counter to clean the deli. It was near closing time and his little sister Antonella would be arriving soon so they could go see the film that she had been dying to watch ever since she saw the trailer on TV.

After picking up the traces of plastic wrapping and dumped them in the bin, Gio went to the back of the store, grabbed his mop and bucket and walked back into his deli and began his routine of keeping his floor spotless. It was then that everything changed.

He looked out of his window just in time to see Antonella crossing the street with a big smile plastered on her face when suddenly her eyes widened in fear and he felt his eyes bulge at the same time.

A speeding car was headed straight towards her and it was going so fast, that Gio had no time to get to her.

"NO!" He shouted at the top of his lungs as he dropped the mop and it made a clang sound when it hit the floor.

Everything from there seemed to move in slow motion, and what he saw terrified him to the very core of his being.

A figure had run out into the road and pushed Antonella out of the way just in time to the safety of the sidewalk and take her place as the car pounded into them and they rolled over the window screen and flew high into the air before slamming lifelessly down on the road.

Gio had recognised that figure, short, bright colours and red glasses, he doubted anyone else on the planet dressed like she did.

Betty Suarez.

He dashed to the door and flung it wide open and raced to his sister's side. She was breathing heavily and clearly in shock as they heard the car keep speeding away; it hadn't stopped or even slowed down.

"Antonella you ok?" He asked in a panicked voice. He rubbed her gently up and down her back to try and calm her.

"Braces…" Was all she whispered and stared out into the road.

Gio launched himself from his sister's side and into the road and came to an abrupt halt in front of a bloodied, bruised and battered Betty Suarez. He felt the panic and worry rise within him as he knelt down beside her motionless form, tears prickling and threatening to fall down his cheeks as he swept her messed up hair away from her pretty face and choked out a few sobs at the sight before him.

Her face was all bruised and swollen and when he placed his left hand on the back of her head to move into his lap, he felt the hot stickiness of blood on his fingertips.

"Call 911!" He bellowed as loud as his lungs would allow him towards the shocked onlookers and turned his attention back to Betty as he checked for a pulse and sighed with relief as he barely felt the faint rhythm beating under his skin.

"Betty! Please you can't leave me, I just lifted the ban of you from my life so you can't leave! You just cant!" He cried out and the tears he'd been holding back were finally released and rolled down his redden cheeks.

Gio didn't know how long he stayed, sat in the road, holding the fragile frame of the woman he loved before the paramedics arrived and placed her on a gurney and tried to stabilise her.

Just as Antonella was being taken into an identical ambulance, Gio spotted a crumbled piece of paper lying on the gravel next to his right foot. Believing it to belong to Betty he picked it up quickly and jumped in the back, taking his sisters hand as she was still in shock from the incident.

A couple of minutes later his sister was asleep, resting against his muscular form, when he decided to unfold and read what was written on the paper.

His eyes widened as realisation dawned on him as he read and re-read over and over again. It was a note that she had written especially for him.

Dear Gio,

_I came to apologise to you again about my behaviour yesterday and I realise how insensitive I was and that you absolutely didn't have to take my abuse of your kindness. I don't expect you to forgive me or ever talk to me again; I understand that I hurt you terribly. _

_If you're reading this then it means I chickened out of saying all of this to you in person and once again I am so sorry. You deserve so much more._

_I wish you all the luck for the future. I know you'll reach your dreams. _

_Betty. _

_P.S – I received the cheese from a friend of Daniels. Mario Batoli, if you want or need anymore ask Daniel, I'm sure he'd be glad to help after all you did for him and DJ yesterday._

Folding the note with care, Gio placed it in his jean pocket to treasure it forever and then prayed to whatever powers that be, that Betty survived.

Because he'd be damned if that was the last communication he had from her.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it, I believe that Betty and Gio are meant to be together because they were just so good together, so I thought that Betty would have to do something drastic in order for Gio to forgive her. Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Comatose

_"I'll never wake up without an overdose of you." – Comatose by Skillet_

This simply could not be happening.

Gio stared helplessly through the one of the hospitals waiting room windows. Down on the ground below, he saw many people of all ages entering and exiting the main entrance to the hospital.

_Some of them are far too young to be here. _He thought as he saw a frail looking young boy who couldn't be more than eight years old be carried into the hospital by presumably his father. The boy was coughing and spluttering and a woman, presumably his mother by the look in her eyes, was trying to comfort him.

Life is unfair.

That was all he kept coming back to in the end.

But even realising that, didn't help to settle his raging heart and swirling mind. Gio couldn't focus on anything, ever since…the incident, he couldn't bring himself to think about what had truly transpired, as it hurt too much. Ever since it happened it was like his body was on autopilot while is brain had just vacated the building as it were.

_Just keep taking deep steady breaths…in 2,3,4, and out 2,3,4._ No matter how hard he tried he simply couldn't get the image of the battered and bruised Betty out of his head. Yet somehow even that bloody state she still looked beautiful to him. What a depressing image that is. _It's probably going to haunt me for the rest of my life. Especially if… NO! SHE IS GOING TO PULL THROUGH THIS! Even if I have to move heaven and earth to insure it. Oh who was he kidding? He couldn't do anything to help her and that hurt the most, just standing in this god forsaking waiting room!_

Snapping him out of his thoughts was the sound of Hilda and Justin entering through the ICU doors. "Papi come on, let's just wait in here while the doctors do their jobs." Hilda shouted down the consealed corridor behind the double doors.

"Do you think Aunt Betty will be alright?" Justin asked as he strolled into the waiting room, neither of them had noticed Gio's presence.

"She's stubborn and a fighter, she'll be back to her usual self in no time." Hilda reassured him by following him and twirling him round to face her and gave him a warm embrace then placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed his forehead gently before slipping some cash into his hands. "Go get us some drinks, ok?"

"Sure." He replied sullenly as he walked off with a slightly hunched over, so unlike his usual bouncy self.

After watching Justin walk round the corner, Gio made his way over to Hilda who had seated herself on one of the grey plastic chairs they had lined up against the walls.

"Hey Hilda" He paused as she turned her head and sighed upon seeing him and gave a nod allowing him to continue. "I'm sorry."

She swiftly stood up and placed her hands on his shoulders and shook him slightly. "Gio this isn't your fault! The only one who can be blamed for this is the guy who ran over my sister! Too bad he was high on crack and crashed into a tree, good thing he died or he would've had to have answered to me!" By the end of her little speech she was practically screeching at the top of her lungs.

"I still should've done something. It should be me in there, not her."

"As I understand it, there's no way you could've got to her in time and if it wasn't for Betty then Antonella would've been in there." Hilda Paused taking in Gio's painful expression and realised it mirrored her own.

"I know that." He emphasised the words as if she'd just called him an idiot. "And the medics said that if Betty hadn't pushed Antonella out of the way then she would have been dead instantly. I can't ever repay Betty for this but I can't get over it either."

Hilda sighed in defeat knowing that she could never change Gio's mind. The only one capable of doing that was Betty and she wasn't exactly available.

"How's Antonella doing?" She asked quietly.

"She's fine, I didn't want to leave her but when Mum arrived, she practically ordered me to see Betty - "

"How dare you?!" Gio was interrupted as Ignacio's voice boomed as he swung through the same ICU doors that Hilda and Justin used a few moments ago. He marched straight up towards Gio and glared at him; if looks could kill then Gio would've been dead a thousand times over.

"Papi!" Hilda tried to calm him down by putting a hand on his arm to squeeze but he just shrugged her off.

"How can you just sit in here and pretend that my little girl isn't fighting for her life right now?!" That's when all the tears broke out from the Suarez family.

"Papi it's not his fault! Betty saved his little sister!" Hilda shouted wildly at him as her tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision and making her cheeks all puffy and red as they flowed down her pretty face like a river of sorrow.

Ignacio gasped and exhaled like he was hyperventilating. "I know…" He cried out and he embraced his eldest daughter and held onto her tightly. "I'm sorry for my words, she's… she's in a coma, but you can see her… if you'd like…"

Tears threatened to burst from his eyes but Gio was able to force them back for the time being as he simply nodded towards Ignacio and went through the dreaded ICU doors. He asked for directions to Betty's room and he could feel his heart trembling and his hands shaking in the terrifying anticipation of seeing her again.

When he reached her room, what he saw through her window broke the pieces of his heart even further.

Betty was deathly pale and lifelessly still, if it wasn't for the machine that ensured she breathed then she could've been mistaken for a statue. She appeared so fragile and vulnerable.

How much pain and suffering can one heart take?

Unfortunately his heart had already taken too much.

It wouldn't be long before he broke down.

If that happened, he wasn't sure if he'd ever bring himself together again.

A doctor that was just finishing up her chart walked out of her room and gave Gio a sympathetic smile.

"H-how is she?" His voice cracked and he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold of the tears.

The doctor could clearly see that Gio was distressed beyond his limits and was hesitant to inform him of the extent of her injuries.

"Please…" Gio pleaded as he forced his eyes away from the woman he loved more than life itself and looked directly into the experienced doctors eyes.

"She has six broken ribs, one which almost punctured a lung and her head got knocked around quite a bit. We're unsure of the damage it's inflicted on her brain, but it's unlikely that she'll awaken from her comatose state and even if she did and I must stress the if, she won't be the same Betty again." Upon seeing that his words had pushed Gio too far, the middle-aged doctor patted his arm and went to see his other patients.

_Unlikely to awaken from her comatose state._

_Won't be the same Betty again._

_Won't be the same Betty again._

_Won't be the same Betty again._

_Won't be the same Betty again._

_Won't be the same Betty again…_

Those words kept swirling around inside his head as Gio lost to the real world around him, unconsciously brought his left hand to wipe away the tears that he didn't even know had started and stared at Betty, and placed his right hand on the cool surface of the window and let out his shaky breath as he tried futilely to bring himself back into self control.

"Betty you can't do this to me! You can't leave me here all alone! I need you Betty Suarez to pull through this! Without you I-I'm – Without you Betty I'm nothing!" He cried harder and his whole body began to shake with uncontrollable trembling.

"Betty I-I can't imagine a world without you in it anymore… I need you… more than humanly possible… more than you know…"

A/N: I hoped you enjoyed it; please let me know what you think of it. The quotes are from songs that I use as inspiration for the story and each chapter is based on that one song. So I play it repeat until I've finished the chapter. Just a suggestion but you may like to try and listen to the songs on youtube just so that you can get the atmosphere. Plus the title for this came from All That I'm Living For by Evanescence and Apology by Alesana used in chapter 1 go for the acoustic version.


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